Friday Film: Major League
 Major League (1989) |
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| Directed by: | David S. Ward |
| Produced by: | Mark Rosenberg Chris Chesser Irby Smith |
| Starring: | Tom Berenger Charlie Sheen Corbin Bernsen Rene Russo Wesley Snipes Chelcie Ross Dennis Haysbert Bob Uecker |
| Distributed by: | Paramount Pictures |
| All Movie Guide IMDb Amazon.com |
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Directed by David S. Ward, Major League is one of many baseball films that came out in the late 1980s. And while it may not have the same clout in film society as standards like Bull Durham or Field of Dreams, it has won its way into many viewers' hearts and is considered a classic by many.
The film opens with a montage featuring the 40-year-long losing streak of the Cleveland Indians. Rachel Phelps (Margaret Whitton), a former Las Vegas showgirl, inherits the team from her late husband and wants to get out of Cleveland, hoping to move the franchise to Miami. However, she cannot legally void the team's lease with the city unless attendance falls below 800,000 paid customers.
With an already losing team on her hands, Phelps decides to make them even worse to assure the Indians' demise. She begins putting together the worst possible team, hiring has-been catcher Jake Taylor (Tom Berenger), incarcerated and visually impaired pitcher Rick Vaughn (Charlie Sheen), Willie Hayes (Wesley Snipes) who only hits pop flies, and Pedro Cerrano (Dennis Haysbert) who can't hit a curveball. Already under contract is third baseman Roger Dorn (Corbin Bernsen), who refuses to properly catch or go after a ball for fear of injuring himself. Lou Brown (James Gammon), a tire salesman who has managed in the minor leagues, is hired to manage this band of misfits.
Despite the greedy owner's efforts to break their spirits, the Cleveland Indians slowly begin to improve. Just when things are looking up though, the team finds out about Phelps' plan to fire her winning employees and hire players who will lose for her. The athletes now have a choice before them: go for the pennant or keep their jobs.
While the movie is set in Cleveland, it was primarily shot in Baltimore due to cost and conflicting schedules with the Cleveland baseball teams. So where does Chicago come into play? Well, to be honest, I wondered the same thing as I watched the film. The sequel (Major League II) prominently features Chicago's Comiskey Park, but I was having difficulty recognizing anything related to my hometown in the first of the Major League series. It wasn't until later, after doing some research online, that I learned that the library scene with Tom Berenger and Rene Russo was shot in Northwestern University's Charles Deering Library, built between 1931 and 1933. It now houses the university's Music Library, Art Reference Collection, and Special Collections Department.
Photo description: Poster for the movie Major League
Created and supplied by Warner Bros.
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POSTED IN: Filmed in Chicago, Sports and Recreation, Entertainment
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